Attachment for knitting-machines.



H. H. WEST.

ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 13, 1912.

' 1,064,185, Patented June 10,1913.

5 SHEETS-SHEET l.

q vLlM-cooao I H. H. WEST.

ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 13,1912.

Patented June 10, 1913.

5 SHEETSSHEBT 2.

/Vaf H. H. WEST.

AT'IAOHMENT FOR KNITTING MACHINES. I APPLICATION FILED MAY 13,1912. 1,664,185. Patented June 10,1913.

6 SHEBTS-SHEET 3.

l Witnesses H. H. WEST.

ATTAGHMENI FOR KNITTING MACHINES.

APPLIOATION FILED MAY 13, 1912v Patented June 10, 1913.

5 SHEETS"SHBET @Uozucu;

witnesses H. H. WEST. ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 13, 1912.

Patented June 10, 1913.

UNITED- STATES PATENT clarion.

HARRY H. west, or PLYMOUTH, PENNSYLVANIA.

AT TACHMENT. FOR KNITTING-MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent. I Patented J i i 1e 10, 1913.

Application filed May 13, 1912. Serial No. 696,950.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that; I HARRY H. \VEs'r, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Plymouth, in. the county of Luzerne and State of'Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Attachments for Knitting-Machines; andI do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,- such'as will enable others skilled inthe art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in circular knitting machines such asare employed in knitting'tubular fabric, and relates especially to needle actuating appliances for producing various designs of knit,

' plated fabric.

I courses by all of the needles under aconm grooves in the needle cylinder utder the am cylaction of the knitting cams on the inder which partially encircles the needle cylinder, the knitting of the tubularv work being performed in continuous circular tinnous rotary motion of the knitting cylinder. Such parts only of the machine as may be necessary to show the connection of this improved attachment are illustrated herein. a

()ne object of theinvention is to proride simply constructed mechanism for producing various designs of knit fabric and which may be applied to any circular-lmitting machine already in use.

Another object of the, invention is the provision of simple mechanism for producing various designs of knit fabric composed of regular. meshes interspersed with enlarged or stretched'lstitches arranged regularly or irregularly to form a desired pattern.

Another object is toprovide simple means forj-positivelymovin certain needles lateralily itpzedeterniine :intervalsfor forcibly stretching certain stitches to permanently enlarge them and thereby produce open work fabric of a predetermined pattern.

Another object is to provide simple means under the control of the operator for varying the pattern to be knit by positioning the stitch stretching devices to form the stretched stitches in alinement, alternately, zigzag-or in any other desired form.

Another object is to provide means Whereby these enlarged stitches are formed from a difi'erent thread from that used in the other exposed stitches which form the ex terior' of the fabric. thus accentuating said formed by said stretched stitches more no ticeable.

\Viththese and other objects in View, the invention consists of certam novel features of construction, combination and 'arran ement of parts as will be more fully e stitches and thereby rendering the openings scribed and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

\ .In the accompanying drawings Figure 1;

represents a side elevation of a knittin head equipped with this improvement,- anwith the attachment in elevated or inoperat-ive position. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section thereof on an enlarged scale, with the parts of the attachment in operative position; Fig. 3 is a similar view taken 'in. a plane at right angles to Fig. 2; Figh i is a horizontal section on "line 4-4 of Fig.5 is a horizontal section on linen- 5 of Fig. 2; Fig. 6 is a detail horizontal sec tion taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 2, showing the housing and cam groove 111 which the needle I actuating jacks of the attachment are mounted; Fig. 7 is a detail perspective view of one of these jacks or detents; Fig; 8

is a diagrammatic view taken opposite the jack housing,v and showing the position of yiew of one form of fabric improved attachment.

'The drawings show the main in'strumerr,

tali-ties of a knitting head to which the pres 'ent invention maybe applied, as comprising a stationai'y'needle cylinder G, provided in the needlesand the threads .fedj'inat this point; Fig. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary. 1

produced bythis its peripheral -or barrel portion with uni:

formly spaced longitudinal -grooves, to re ceivea-.cii'cular series of independent latch needles 9*, having the usual lateral studs or butts whereby they may be actuated by the.

operating-cams (not shown) on the rotary v. in.

ram or Knitting cylinder F. This cam cylinder is fixed to a gear F wluch meshes with a power driven gear E". The needles are resiliently held in the grooves of the,

cylinder by the usual spring band which permits said needles to move laterally when suliicient pressure is exerted on them to overcome the tension of the band. A fixed sinker-head A is also shown, having insets in which a sinker operating cam ring B is mounted to rotate said ring being secured by a bracket C to a revolubly mounted standard to he described, and by means of which the sinker cam ring is revolved.

Horizontally movable sinkers D are engaged with the ring B by means of the usual recesses in which the cam of the ring B fits, and. by which the sinlrers are reoiprocated in the usual manner. The function of these 7 sinkers is in general substantially the same as that of thesinkers usually employed, and they are held in operative position against accidental removal by a fixed cap ring E. This cap ring has an annular seatE in its upper face near its outer edge, in which an annular gear E is fixed for a purpose to be described.

This improved attachment is mounted on the cam cylinder gear F to rotate therewith -tively, as may be desired.

standards 1 and 1. have shoulders 1 arand comprises, as shown, three posts or standards 1, 1 and l", which are fixed to said agear at suitable points and project 11 wardly any desired or suitable distance, 1; 1e posts 1 and 1 being equipped with caps or retaining washers 2 and having longitudinally spaced sockets 3 and 4 in their outer faces for a purpose to be described. A late 5 of any desired configuration is sli ably mounted on the uprights 1 and 1 and is here shown substantlally triangular" withranged suitably to support the weight of the plate 5 and its attachment, and to limitthe downward movement of said plate, as is shown clearly in Fig. 8. One side-of this plate 5, between the arms 6 and 6, has a lateral extension 5 from the lower Face of which depends a substantially cylinnlical casing or hood 10. This hood is open at one side and is positioned to project into the upper end of the needlecylinder' near one side thereof adjacent the inner faces of the needles at a point opposite a thread carrier Edit, the open side of the caslng or hood being arranged adjacent theneedles, as is shown clearly in Figsr2 andti. Arranged within this casing 10 and protected thereby is a cylindrical castin 11 fixed to the plate 5 and having a central bore 12 therein with an upwardly projecting sleeve 13 communicating with said bore and extending through an opening in the plate 5 for a purpose to be lescribed. This casting 11 has a cam grdove 14 in its lower face which registers wit I a plurality of radially extending seats 15 formed in a rotary member to be de scribed. Any desired number of these seats may be employed andthey are designed to receive needle actuating jacks or detents .16. These detents 16 are constructed as shown in detail in :Fig...7, each having a vertical groove 16 in its "front end for reliably en gaging aneedle and having .9. lug or ngerr,

hand g gyvhereby said needle is moved out i of the path of a thread marked l/V fed in from a suitably disposed thread guide as shown in Fig. 2 to permit said thread; to

pass behind the needle so actuated and thus escape engagement by said needle. The

laterally deflected or projected needle so engaged by the jack thus misses the thread marked W which passes behind it and forms a floating thread or loop, as indicated at b in Fig; 9. 1

For demonstrating the invention two threads B and W, preferably of dilierent colors, are herein shown and both: are en-- gaged during the knitting process by all of the needles except those which are projected by the jacks at predetermined intervals, and one thread forms-the outer face of the fabric and the other the inner face, as is shown clearly in Fig. 9, the white thread being here shown outside and the black thread on the insid'el' While two threads only are shown itwill be obvious thatmore may be employed when a suitable yarn changer is provided. heir a' needle is. projected by one of the 'jaclrs, the black loop or stitch which remainson thestem or neck of the deflected needle is stretched to a predetermined extent controlled by the formation ofgthe Innocence.

needle necessarily tightens or draws in the adjacent stitches which supply the quantity of-yarn requisite for the formation of the stretched 01' enlarged stitch, as is shown .clearlyin Fig. 9; v i

A hub or spindle 18 fits'in the bore 12 and sleeve 13 of the casting, and is preferably cut. out 'intcr'mediately of its ends on its outer face, as shown at 19, to'reduce frie tion. A gear 20 is secured to this spindle 18 by means of a screw 21 having a tapered head which fits in the splitupper end of said sleeve andforces it into frictional engagement with the sleeve 22 of the gear 20, as

shown in FigsQ and 4, said splitspindle end forming gripping jaws. for securely holding said gear on said spindle and the screw head forces said parts into locking engagement. This rotary spindle 18:has'a'n-anuular flange 23 to which is fixed an annular plate or wheel 24 in which the radial jack seats 15 are formed and which serves to revolve the jacks in the cam groove 14 to cause them to be projected at the proper pointto engage the needle to be-defiected. I v

Rotary motion is imparted to the gear 20 whicl actuates the jacks by mean of a train of gears here shownv consisting of a large gearwheel 25 rotatably mounted on the upper face of the plate 5 and which meshes. with said gear 20 and with a pinion "Q6 fixed to a'gear 27, also rotatably mounted on the plate 5. 28 slidably keyed to a sleeve 29"revolubly mounted on the post 1. This sleeve 29 has a gear 30 fixed to its lower end which meshes with the large gear I? on the knit-- ting head and is rotated by the turning of the gear F, which causes the post 1 to move bodily with said gear and the gear 30 meshing with the gear E lobe thereby rotated. The gear 28 has a pcri 'iheral groove 28' in which fits the'bifurcated end of the arm 6" of the plate 5, whereby said gear may be moved with the plate 5 on the post 1", A spring arm 31 is loosely engaged at one end with the upper end of the post 1", and is fixed at its other end to a plate which is 'revolubly mounted in a bracket arm 33 pivotally mounted on a standard 3} fixed to the 'machine frame. Yarn bobbins as 35 are carried by the plate 32 which is revolved bodilywith the standard 1", by means of the arm 31 on the turning of the gear F and tangling of the threads consequently avoided. The threads are fed through eyes 32' in the plate (see Fig. 2), into the thread guide above described. The wheel or plate 24 is provided on its periphery with serrations or teeth 2 L which are of the same gage as the needles contained in the cylinder and are designed to engage the needles at the.

opening in the hood 10 opposite the thread feeding attachment as is shown clearly in Figsatand 5 and serveto hold the parts in the desired speed.

This gear 27 is driven by a gear operative relation during the projection of varying the number of jacks 16,-which may be accomplishedby removing certain of the jacks from the wheel 24 or inserting others therein. The hood 10. and its inclosed casting and wheel 24 may be removed and a larger or a smaller wheel substituted therefor, as desired, suitable slots and bearings being provided to permit this substitution. When a wheel and casting are changed, the gears 20 and 25 may also be changed to cause the jack carrying wheel to rotate at InFig. S a diagrammatic view of a p 1,- tion of the inner face of the needle cylinder disposed opposite. the yarn feeder is .shown, rvm representing the top of the web or the plane where-the loops are formed and which is commonly known as the cast off line, -In this figure the two threads'B and W are shown fed in audit will be obvious from this illustration and from Fig. 2 that the jackprojected needles'do not knit the thread- W which is here shown white, but knit. only the thread B here shown as black, the white threadbeing fed in behind the projected needle and thus forming the floating loop Z), and that the loop a formed by the black thread only which is knit on. the-so projected needle is stretche d sufiicient-ly to form an opening in the fabric and these openings so produced may be arranged to form any desired pattern in the fabric by varying the number of the needle projecting jacks employed, and arranging them certain distances apart. Y

At a point opposite the thread guide 100 the sinker cain ring B withdraws the sinkers a predetermined distance as shown in Fig. 2 to relieve the strainaud prevent tearing of the fabric when the stretched loops are being'forined, the eccentric portion of the cam which performs this function being clearly shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5. v

lVhen for any reason it is desired to throw this attachment out of operation, for iiistance, wlien'knitting the heel or too of a stocking, the plate 5 is moved upwardly on the posts 1, 1 and 1" until the catches l snap into the sock'ets 4 at thetop of the posts I and 1, whereby said device is held out of operation and out of the way during the reciprocatory knitting in which theattachinent is not-desired to be used and one thread only is used in this knitting operation, the other thread being thrown out. \Vhcn the attachment is in operative position. the catches engage the sockets 3 and hold theplatc securely against movement.

I claim as my invention: 1. A knitting machine attachment for producing. plated work comprising supports an I adapted to be secured to the rotary member of a knitting head, a plate slidably'engaged Y with said supports, means for locking said plate in ad usted position, reciprocatable j aclrs'on said plate positioned to engage and I move outward a needle when said acks are reciprocated in one direction, and means for actuating said jacks.

2. A knitting machine attachment forpro ducing plated Work comprising supporting standards adapted to be secured to a rotary member or a knitting head, a plate slidably engaged With said standards, means for locking said plate in adjusted position, lat orally reciprocable jacks on said plate posi tioned to en gage and move outward a needle when said jacks are reciprocated inone direction, and means for actuating said jacks.

,3. A knitting machine attachment for producing lated Work comprising supporting stander s' adaptedto bB'SGCLlIGGl to a rotary member of a knitting head, a plate slidably engaged with said standards, means for fin,

looking said plate in adjusted position, a retatable'member depending from said late and having a plurality of radial seats t ereacltsmountd to slide; in said seats, a cam arranged to engage said jacks and move them outward I at predetermined intervals and to Withdraw them after projection.-

4. ln a knitting machine, the combination with "laterallyyieldable needles, their support, and plural threadfeeds, of a revoluble plate or table arranged over" said needles, a fixed casting depending from-said table and having a cam element thereon, a rotatable member arranged in a planebelow said castins; and providedwith a plurality of radially disposed seats, jacks mounted to slide in said seats and having means engaging the I cam element of the casting, and means operable by the rotation of the knitting mechanism for rotating said ack carrying member whereby said achs are pro ected at predeterminedintervals to move certain of said needles laterally outward.

5. In a knitting machine, the combination of: a stationary needle cylinder having laterallyayieldable needles therein, a table supmorted above said cylinder and mounted to revolve relatively thereto, a cam member fixed to the lower face of said table and havins; a hub extending through the table, a

1 means controlled by the rotation of the knit-' 1 spindle rotatably mounted in said hub and projecting through the lower end thereof,

tinmmechanism for rotating said swindle, a

so, 7 I pro ect ng: acks mounted to ide in said laterally extending". member secured to said spindlem a plane below sa d cam member and provided with radial seats and needle seats and engage with cam imember,

6. in a knitting machine, theicomhination of a stationary needle cylinder'having later.-- I

ally yieldabla therein, a table sunincense ported above said cylinder and mounted to revolve relatively thereto, scam member fixed to the lower face of said table and hav ing a hub extending throif'gh the table, a spindle rotatablv mounted insaid hub and projecting through'the lower .endthereef,

means controlledby the rotlation of? the knitting mechanism for rotating said spindle, a laterally ext/ending memhersecured to said spindle in a 'plane below said cam member and provided with radial seats, and jacks mounted to slide in said seats and engage with said cam member, said jackseach hav int;- a vertical groove on itsouter end for reliably engaging; a needle.

7. In a knitting machine, the combination of a stationary needle cylinder having laterally yieldable needles therein, a table supported above said cylinder and mounted to revolve relatively thereto, a cam member fixed tothe lower iace ofisa id table and having a hub extending throngrh the table,

a spindle rotatably mounted in said hub and projecting through the lower end thereof, means controlled by the rotation of the knitting mechanism for rotating said spindle, an annular plate secured to said spindle in a 'plane belowsaid cam member and having a plurality of radial seats in its upper face, jacks-slidable in said seats and having; means engaged with the cam member where by they are projected at predetermined intervals to engage and laterally project i a needle. I

8. In a knitting; machinefthe combination of a stationary needle cylinder having laterany yieldable needles therein, stable supported above said cylinder and mounted to revolve relatively thereto, a member fixed to the lower face of said table and having a.

tat

9. In admitting machine, the combination of a stationary needle cylinder having later ally yieldahle needles therein, a table supported above said cylinderandfinounted to revolve relatively ,thereto, scam member fixed to the lower face of said table and having hub extending; thaoug'h the-table,

a indte rotatably mounted in said hub and insects controlled by therotation ot' the knitting; mechanism for rotating said spin ie, I f'an'annclar plate secured to-isaid spindlein its projecting through the lower endthercof,

a plane helm said cam member and having said needles to hold the parts in operative 10 a plurality of radial seats in its upper face{ position while the jacks are projected.- jaeks slidehle in said seats andhaving means In testimony whereof I have hereunto set engaged with the cam member whereby they my hand in presence of two subscribing Witare projected at predetermined intervals to nesses.

engage and laterally project a needle, said HARRY H..WEST. annular plate having serrations in its pelVitnesses: riphery off the same gage as theneedle e0n- JOSEPH \VEST,

tained in the cylinder arranged to engage TH WE 

